Any dedicated fan of the movie "Fight Club" will remember the early scene in which Tyler explains that airplanes drop oxygen masks during turbulence and crashes because breathing in the pure oxygen makes people high and euphoric, therefore complacent as to their imminent dooms. Vegas casinos constantly pump fresh, pure oxygen into the casino floors because it keeps people energized and alert, and so they are more likely to stay at their particular table/wheel/machine longer. Such are the dastardly ways we use our own biology against ourselves.
But I realized last night, before I drifted away to a night of fitful dreams, that that is perhaps why we see people from the 1950's as being so gosh dern happy all the time. Not just the '50's, but earlier times as well, of course. (And this is not to say that people were never sad; just that now, we always portray them as very, very happy). And perhaps it is because in that era, when compared to now, there was a lot less pollution in the air. Now we have little creepy crawlies in the air wherever we go--unless of course we're on an airplane that's about to crash, or a posh slot machine room. Surely before the times of industrial revolution and gasoline-guzzling transportation, the air in our environments was much purer and cleaner. People seemed to be doing okay back then, as far as depression rates go (again, that's compared to now).
Perhaps this is why people who live in the country are so damn chipper and calm when juxtaposed with, say, a New York apartmentite (no tough feelings guys...). The country air is cleaner than the densely-populated city's, and the population therein breaths in more pure oxygen. I remember being in Windsor yeeeeears ago, and our guide pointing out that the trees had black bark. Black bark? But some of the trees had white bark, and some of them had patches of no bark at all. That was because the trees were absorbing the pollutants in the air--that nasty shit we breath in constantly has the ability to turn a tree's white bark black and fall off. That's fairly disturbing.
Just something to think about.
Post Note: I wonder just how this plays into the sexual concepts behind breath play and control? Even Maxim magazine has stated that if your partner's head hangs slightly over the edge of the bed during sex, their orgasm will (possibly) be more intense. But to that I always wondered just what bastard is ramming into his partner that hard to push her halfway off the bed--there are much kinder, gentler ways to cut off her air flow during sex. How about pulling her hair and wrenching her head back sharply during doggy style? (That always did it for me at least...) Or if she's wearing a collar and leash, you can tug on the leash (or tighten the collar, but I know from experience that's actually not too pleasant). And of course there's always the good old standby of using your hands.
Tuesday, May 17
The Key To World Peace
2 comments:
Perhaps the "oxygen in casinos" thing is a bit of a legend (and like any enclosed space, what are there is can easily get infected from all the sick people present), but it *is* generally thought that pure oxygen can improve performance of the mind.
No doubt the world now is a completely different place for its inhabitants, and we definitely do complain beyond neccessity. But every generation has its new package of woes to complain about--and every generation also has a host of decent people who *do* just deal with it all. It's a matter of perspective.
Ha, can't believe I forgot about the smoker population at casinos. Ick.
Actually, I'd say a fair bit of things that are wrong now are due in some way or another to the actions of previous generations. This is true for everything from a child's ability to pay attention in class to the U.S. government system. How are we expecting a child to focus when an episode of Sesame Street switches skits every few minutes? Nevermind that parents rely on televisions to act as babysitters. (I am *so* not touching the government here, however.) It is innevitably cause and effect, and one generation moves recklessly towards their own goals without consideration of the side-effects.
Example: my mom would never play a board game with me past the age of 8 (although it was generally because she was tired from work). Therefore, I feel rational in placing upon her the resposibility of my resulting suckiness at Monopoly, and the fact that I lost interest in doing any fun activity with her. It may seem a minor thing and completely within reason, but hey, if we'd played chess every week I would have been better at chess and less addicted to late night dramas (although then I would never have discovered X-Files...). It's the truth.
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